The Lehigh Valley’s incoming member of Congress walked Tuesday into the Rayburn House Office Building, looked at the security guard and said the magic words.

Democratic Congresswoman-elect Susan Wild told the Capitol Police officer she is a “member-elect,” and he waved her around the security line, saying, “Congratulations.”

Soon, Wild will have a pin for her jacket signaling her status as a member of the U.S. House, which officers will watch for when she walks on to the House floor to vote. For now, she’s sporting a U.S. House of Representatives lanyard as she races between orientation sessions, meetings with legislators, and receptions with interest groups such as Planned Parenthood and the League of Conservation Voters.

For Wild and the more than 80 incoming lawmakers who will join the U.S. House in January, this week’s new-member orientation is a mix of new and old, familiar and information overload.

Wild is practiced at navigating the city, having attended American University and George Washington University’s law school (where her son, Clay, is a law student). She already has run into familiar faces she met while campaigning over the last year, excitedly greeting fellow Pennsylvania freshmen and other new lawmakers from across the country.

“Whenever we saw each other, we were always in high-pressure situations where we were all running our own campaigns and stressed out about it,” Wild told The Morning Call during an interview Tuesday. “It was, ‘I hope I get to see you in Washington,’ and now it’s fun to connect.”

But her to-do list is lengthy and filled with question marks.

While Wild handily won the two-year term that begins in January, the winner of the special election to complete Republican Rep. Charlie Dent’s term — which runs through the end of the year — remains unclear as Lehigh and Northampton counties continue to count. Tuesday was the deadline for counties to receive some types of ballots.

Election officials in Lehigh County — one of five counties covered by the 15th District that Dent represented until May — say they hope to have a final tally by Friday.

If Nothstein wins and takes the job, he would come to D.C. for only a handful of session days; both the House and Senate are set to gavel out by mid-December. If Wild ends up as the special election winner, she’d get a jump-start on January and would be sworn in this month.

The winner of Pennsylvania’s other special congressional election, Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon of Delaware County, was to be sworn in Tuesday night with two legislators from New York and Oklahoma.

“It’s nice to be able to be here getting things done without worrying about what’s happening in the special election,” Wild said.

Wild said she’s starting to interview staff for her D.C. office. She’s planning to locate her main district office in Allentown, but selecting an exact location will have wait until she gets briefed on the guidelines for the size, cost and other details of that space.

She’s spoken with Dent and his former district director about some of those logistics. And several current delegation members, including Democratic U.S. Reps. Dwight Evans of Philadelphia and Matt Cartwright of Scranton, offered assistance as she gets to work.

Incumbents from other states have been calling, both to offer help and to seek Wild’s support in the caucus leadership elections that will take place after Thanksgiving.

Wild said she hasn’t made commitments to any of the Democratic leadership candidates, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who will be seeking to return to the House speakership. The caucus should make plans for how the leadership team can reflect the increasing diversity among House Democrats, Wild added.

“My biggest interest is I really don’t want to see a leadership fight. I don’t want to see us waste any time on that,” Wild said. “I also want to know that, whatever the outcome is, that we as a party have at least a tentative succession plan. Even if Leader Pelosi is elected speaker, I want to know what the plan is for a year down the road.”

This week’s nuts and bolts of learning about office budgets, security sessions, personnel matters, and ethical guidelines doesn’t leave much room for crafting policy. But Wild emphasized that her first formal meeting with an incumbent member was with Rep. John Sarbanes of Maryland, whose legislation on government and campaign reforms she cited on the campaign trail.

Wild said afterward that her legislative priority will be making it easier to vote, enacting ethical reforms, and tightening campaign finance rules, and that she hopes it is the first bill filed in the new congressional session.

But more of that policy talk will have to wait. A staffer whisked Wild off for more interviews and meetings, before a dinner at the Library of Congress, a reception hosted by outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan, and a candlelight tour of the U.S. Capitol.